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The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg shocked the nation on Friday. But discussions quickly turned from mourning her death to calculating its political consequences. Democrats are calling for the next president to decide who should replace the iconic Supreme Court judge, seeing as that’s what happened when Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016.
But President Trump has already produced a shortlist of candidates he’d like to nominate quickly, regardless of the results of November’s election. They include immigration restrictionist Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who has sponsored a number of congressional bills that would limit immigration into the U.S. Noel Francisco is also on the shortlist. He acted as Trump’s solicitor general until earlier this year and in the Supreme Court, he successfully defended the controversial “Muslim ban” that blocked immigrants from several Muslim majority countries coming to the U.S. Francisco also argued that the Supreme Court should invalidate a lower court’s decision to give a teenage migrant the right to an abortion. Intelligencer
In other federal immigration news…
Esteemed Scientists Endorse Biden Over Immigration
Two dozen award-winning computer scientists rebuked Trump’s immigration policies in a Friday announcement endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president. They included John Hennessy, executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet; All were winners of the Turing Award, often called the Nobel Prize of computing. They argued Trump’s immigration policy was a threat to computer research. The Scientific American also endorsed Joe Biden, citing similar concerns, along with Trump’s climate change skepticism and his handling of the pandemic. It was the first time the research journal had made a political endorsement in its 175-year history. The New York Times
DHS Whistleblower Delays Testimony
Brian Murphy, the DHS whistleblower who said Trump appointees suppressed evidence of Russian activities in the U.S., is seeking to delay his deposition before the House Intelligence Committee on Monday in order to allow time for his legal team to access classified information that would bolster his allegations. His lawyers require a security clearance to access classified information. Politico